Kurt Vonnegut’s Best Seller “Slaughterhouse-Five”

If you are one who enjoys exploring activities that increase your ability for thought at the same time, you are probably always on the lookout for good books. You are completely happy as long as it is well-written, entertaining, and informative  no matter if it is fiction, non-fiction, instructional, or historical. One book that fits all three of these categories is Kurt Vonnegut’s fiction masterpiece, “Slaughterhouse-Five,” which was first published in 1969. 

“Slaughterhouse Five” was Kurt Vonnegut’s sixth published novel, and it was also the most notable work written by this author, who is one of the greatest purveyors of dark humor in the history of American literature. Vonnegut worked on this novel for years before finally “getting it right” a struggle that is understandable, given the subject matter. 

Kurt Vonnegut was a prisoner of war during World War II, and along with many other prisoners of war he was sent to Dresden, Germany by the Germans. Although Dresden was set aside as a “non combat” zone, the city was fire-bombed shortly after Vonnegut and the other POWs arrived, and during this fire-bombing, over 135,000 people were killed, even more than the number killed in Hiroshima or Nagasaki. The only reason that he and his fellow prisoners of war survived the fire-bombing was by hiding in an underground slaughterhouse – “Slaughterhouse-Five”. 

For many years, Vonnegut talked to people about the “famous Dresden book” he planned to write, but he was unable to decide on the proper approach. Finally, Vonnegut settled on the same approach he took with all his books mixing humor and absurdity with dark and heavy subject matters. Vonnegut’s main character in this book is a fictional man who was in the same group of prisoners Vonnegut was in. And throughout this book, we see the war through this man’s eyes, and we see the fire-bombing of Dresden through this man’s eyes, and we quite possibly see this man going crazy! 

This book is considered to be one of the most important works of fiction in American literature, and it manages to entertain the reader while also exploring poignant ideas, insights, and knowledge. “Slaughterhouse-Five” might be just the book you are seeking if you wantto find a good book that will entertain you while also being enlightening.